Rail-joint



Patented Oct. 25, |898.

N. BENJAMIN RAIL JOINT.

(Application led s H, i

No Model.)

NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

NEWTON BENJAMIN, OF ELMIRA, NEW YORK.

RAIL-JOINT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 612,891, dated October25, 1898.

Application filed December 1, 18 9 '7.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, NEWTON BENJAMIN, a resident of Elmira, in the countyof Chemnn g and State of New York, have invented eertain new and usefulImprovements in Rail- .lointsg and I do hereby declare the following tobe af ull, clear, and exact description of the invention, sneh as willenable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same.

My invention relates to an improvement in rail-joints, and moreparticularly to such as are adaptable for use with rails of steam orsimilar railroads with which heavy ears and locomotives are employed.

Heretofore it has been the usual custom to provide iish-plates formed ofangle-iron and so made as to terminate at their upper edge under thehead of the rail and so as to project at their lower edge over theflange of the rail. ln some eases fish-plates have been so constructedas to be disposed parallel with the web of the rail, terminating at theupper edge under the head and at the lower edge above the lian ge of therail without extending over the latter.

Practical experience has demonstrated that fish-plates constructed-andapplied in the ways above mentioned are open to very serious objection,owing to their inability to withstand the immense strain to which theyare subjected. It is a matter of common knowledge among those familiarwith the practical operation of railroads that on account of the strainto which the fish-plates are subjected at the meeting ends of the railsthey are liable to break or become strained, and this has become asource of great annoyance, expense, and danger. It has also beenproposed to construct ish-plates so that their Lipper edge willterminate flush with the tread of the rail, and some have formed theupper edge with an enlargement the entire upper surface of which hasbeen made flush with the tread of the rail, so as to form a continuousrolling surface for the wheels over the meeting ends of the rails. Suchconstruction is wholly impractical, because it is evident that when thewheels become grooved (as they will do in the course of a comparativelyshort time on account of being made to rotate on the rails withoutrolling thereon when too great amount of steam is ap- Serial No.660,408. (No model.)

plied in starting or pulling a train, particularly with a heavy load andespecially when the rail is wet or slippery) they will forcibly strikethe upper edges of the fish-plates, with the result that the latter willbe liable to be broken, or, which is equally as probable, to cause thebreakage of the bolts which secure `the fish-plates to the rail, ineither ease rendering the replacing of the plates with new ones or theprovision of new bolts necessary and in the meantime endangering thesafety of travel over the road.

It is to overcome these defects and objections without appreciablyadding to the cost of construction and application of fish-plates thatconstitutes the object of my present invention; and with this object inview the inventiorpconsists in certain novel construction of arail-joint, as will be hereinafter specifically set forth, and pointedout in the claim.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure lis a View illustrating myinvention. Fig. 2 is a sectional view.

A represents one rail-section,and Banother, the two being united bymeans of my improvements, of which 1 illustrates an angular fishplate,preferably having its inner face next to the web of the rail grooved, asat 2. The base portion 3 rests upon the flanges of the abuttingrail-sections and extends over the same, terminating at its outer edgein a depending flange or -lip 4. The upper portion of the body of theplate forms a shoulder 5, which is disposed under and in contact withthe head of the rail. The upper edge of the fish-plate is provided withan enlargement or head 6, preferably of steel, which abuts the fulllength ofthe plate against the side faces of the heads of abuttingrail-sections. The head or enlargement 6 is so made as to terminatebelow the tread of the rails, so as to be entirely out of reach of thewheel of the cars and locomotives, and its upper face is preferablybeveled inwardly, as at 7. The enlargement or head 6 is of a diametersubstantially equal to one-half the diameter of the head of the rail. Byproviding the fishplate with the head of steel extending from end to endthereof the plate will be strengthened and breakage thereof by thestrain brought to bear thereon will be effectually obviated, and theadditional amount of metal IOO distributed in the heed end depth efplateA obviates the possibility of allowing the joints to work or becomelow. In other Words, it is possible for the rail to be as rigid andstiff at the joint as at any other part. Furthermore, said head orenlargement bearing against the sides of the heads of the abuttingrail-sections will prevent the latter from getting out of line with eachother. Again, by my improved construction I am able to secure greaterdepth of iish-plate than any now in use.

The iish-plate above described will be disposed on the outside of therail-sections, and against the inner, faces of the webs of saidrail-sections I prefer to place a plate 9 and to connectthis with myimproved fish-plate by means of bolts l0, passing through them and thewebs of the rail-sections.

My improvements are simple, but they 0bviate a serious defect which hasbeen the cause of great annoyance in the practical operation ofrailroads and which, so far as I am aware, has never before beeneffectually overcome. Having fully described my invention, what I claimasnew, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

In a rail-joint, the combination with two rails, of a {ish-plate boltedto the adjacent ends thereof for securing them together, said fish-platehaving a large head of metal at its upper edge engaging the lower sideface of the head of the rail below the tread thereof and out of reach ofthe car-wheel treads and projecting a distance beyond the side face ofthe head of the rail insucient to permit injury thereto by thecar-wheels should the latter leave the track, said head of metal on thefishplate being 0f a diameter substantially equal to one-half thediameter of the head of the rail, whereby to enlarge and reinforce thenpper edge of the fish-plate and prevent the cracking of 'the lat-terWhen subjected to pounding strain caused by the engagement of thecar-wheels with the far ends of the rails with which the fish-plate isconnected.

In testimony whereof I have signed this speoiiication in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses.

NEWTON BENJAMIN.

Vitnesses:

I-I. A. MILFORD, H. B. CLEVELAND.

